Majel Barrett Roddenberry

Actress who found fame as the 'First Lady of Star Trek'.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who died on December 18 aged 76, was known as the "First Lady of Star Trek", supplying the voice of the computer on board the US Starship Enterprise and subsequently marrying the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry.

As the enigmatic unnamed first officer known as Number One in Star Trek's pilot episode, she upset executives at NBC Television, who insisted that Roddenberry should give the role to a man. She once joked that, given the choice between keeping Mr Spock (whom the network also hated) or the woman character, Roddenberry "kept the Vulcan and married the woman [because] he didn't think Leonard [Nimoy] would have it the other way around".

In subsequent episodes of Star Trek Majel Barrett (as she then was) played Nurse Christine Chapel, known for her unrequited affection for the emotionless Spock. "I never particularly cared for Christine," she noted, explaining that her "wishy-washy" character had fallen for someone "who only comes into heat once every seven years. Let's face it," she added, "this broad's a real loser."

She provided several voices for Star Trek: The Animated Series, returning years later in Star Trek: The Next Generation as the Betazoid Ambassador Lwaxana Troi, whose designs on the captain of the Enterprise, Jean Luc Picard, were spurned. She later appeared as Ambassador Troi in several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Majel Barrett was the voice of the onboard computers of Federation starships for the various Star Trek television series and most of the Star Trek films. Her voice was also heard in various computer games and software related to the Star Trek franchise.

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She was born Majel Leigh Hudec on February 23 1932 in Cleveland, Ohio, where she grew up. When she was 10 she enrolled in an acting workshop, but after Shaker Heights High School she attended law school for a year, hoping to become a legal clerk. Having failed her exam in contract law she moved to New York, found work as an actress, and joined a tour of The Solid Gold Cadillac.

Moving to California, she acted in various films, including Black Orchid, As Young as We Are and The Buccaneer (all 1958) before turning to television. After roles in The Untouchables and Bonanza, among other series, she met Lucille Ball at an acting class, signed a contract with Desilu, and in 1962 appeared in The Lucy Show.

In 1964 Majel Hudec took a guest role in a new television series, The Lieutenant, produced by Gene Roddenberry. Later in 1964, Roddenberry cast her to co-star in The Cage, the pilot for his science fiction series Star Trek. But NBC considered the Number One character's strength and authority in the Star Trek universe unsettling, and they ordered a second pilot made, without the brunette second-in-command.

When Roddenberry sold his second Star Trek pilot to the network, he remembered Majel Hudec's work in The Cage and cast her as Nurse Christine Chapel. This time she used the name Majel Barrett and wore a blonde wig.

After Roddenberry's death in 1991, Majel Barrett Roddenberry produced the science fiction series Earth: Final Conflict (1997) and Andromeda (2000-02). In 1996 she was guest star on Babylon 5, a rival science fiction series to Star Trek. She also had small parts in A Guide for the Married Man (1967), with Walter Matthau; Westworld (1973), with Yul Brynner; and The Domino Principle (1977), with Gene Hackman.

Shortly before her death she reprised her role as the voice of the USS Enterprise computer for the film Star Trek XI, due for release in 2009.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry owned Lincoln Enterprises, a mail order business that she and Gene Roddenberry launched to deal with the huge number of requests for Star Trek-related material.

Majel Barrett married Gene Roddenberry in 1969. Their son survives her.